Evening Star Newspaper, September 15, 1935, Page 45

Editorial Page Speci al Articles MATERIAL NEEDS COMPEL ITALY TO FIGHT ETHIOPIA European Statesmen Call African The- ater of War Mere Byplay to Growing Nazi Threat, BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. \WICE in the past four years the world has been brought face to face with an acute crisis precipitated by the de- termination of a great people to em- ploy force to escape from material limitations which it deemed inconsist- ent not merely with national pros- perity and national pride, but with national existence itself. Japan and Italy have presented Manchuria and Ethiopia, respectively, with the plain choice between war and submission to their purposes. And in both cases the will of the nominal aggressor has prevailed because it was accompanied by a readiness to fight. But in the Ethiopian affair all the Btatesmen participating in the Geneva debates were equally aware that the spectacle they were witnessing owed its real interest to the fact that it was but a first act. It is true that for the British a passion for peace ‘was directly doubled by a concern for imperial security. For them an Ital- fan conquest of Ethiopia must con- stitute a direct and dangerous threat to their position alike in Egypt and in the Sudan. France, the Soviet Union and the nations of the Little Entente were, by contrast, little concerned with the question of the security of the British Empire. ' They were, in fact, as undis- tugbed by this consideration as the British had been over the preserva- tion of the open door in China, when | the United States, speaking through Henry L. Stimson, had invoked the Kellogg pact and invited the League of Nations to action at the time of Japan’'s aggression in Manchuria. For Manchuria is far away from Europe, and the continental problem domi- nates all else in the minds of Euro- pean statesmen. Foresee Hitler’s Attacks. Nevertheless, what Laval, Litvinov and the statesmen of the lesser states elearly perceived was that the breach which Mussolini .was opening in the wall of the so-called collective system in Europe was bound in due course 1o serve Hitler’s purposes in a later at- tack upon world peace. Oddly enough, in reminding Laval of this patent truth, Anthony Eden only repeated the warning which Mr. Stimson is re-| ported to have addressed to Sir John Simon in the Manchurian affair. Unconcerned with Japanese per- formances in Asia, equally undisturbed by the immediate implications of the Ttalian campaign in Africa, the con- tinental statesmen found .themselves gravely preoccupied with the problem of preventing these two episodes be- coming precedents ready at German hands when Hitler at last passed to the offensive. As far as Asia, Africa or America was cencerned, 50 far the prestige of the League of Nations was without importance for European statesmen. Were it conceivable that Hitler would direct his operations, when he moved, to the seizure either of the Portugese Angola or of Belgian | Congo, it is far from impossible that Europe would give its reluctant but relieved blessing. But what was plain to the prime ministers and foreign secretaries at Geneva was that when Hitler did move it would be on the Rhine, the Danube or the Vistula and not on the Nile or the Congo. For them, moreover, the League itself had become not a col- lective system designed to preserve world peace, but a continental alliance calculated to defend the status quo. And all their labors were directed not to protecting the Ethiopian victim of an impending and undisguised attack, but to preserving the League for future use against Germany. Ethiopia Mere Sideshow. In that enterprise, of course, they failed. After the fiascos of Manchuria and Ethiopia the attempt to mobilize against Germany even the moral forces ‘once conceived to be resident in the Geneva institution would be doomed to failure. Precisely the same motives which the world discovered in the British opposition to the Italian ‘program in Ethiopia and the American resistance to the Japanese policy in Manchuria would be found again in any Prench or Soviet attempt to bor- row the voice of the League to halt the advance of Germany upon Austria. Now, with the struggle at Geneva ‘over, what is to be expected? At most only a truce of preparation disguised by Italian operations in Africa. What the American audience must perceive is that henceforth this Ethiopian af- fair is essentially a side show. Italian defeat might hasten, Italian success may delay German action. But from now on every decision taken, every step made by the statesmen of any European country will be preceded by « side glance at the German situa- sion. 1 think I have written before in this eolumn that after the affair of Agadir in 1911 there descended upon Europe a calm which was completely fatalistic in its character. Again and again it was my experience while traveling in Europe to have explained to me why war had now become inevitable and the only question still unanswered concerned the date when hostilities would begin. This state of mind was the direct consequence of the three great crises of Tangiers, Bosnia and Agadir. Manchuria, Austria and Ethiopia have now had the same effect. What existed in the immediate post-war era was the conviction that war had be- come impossible, the convictien that peoples everywhere had become equally satisfied that civilization in general and their own existence in particular would be shattered irrevocably by a repetition of the events of 1914-1918. ‘The will to peace of all peoples seemed equally strong and those who doubted the survival of this emotion were everywhere denounced not merely as ts but as themselves con- tributors to the destruction of a faith ‘which was itself & bulwark of pesce. English Nations Confused. Today, while the masses in the Eng- countries are still con- fused and puzzled by what has hap- pened, it is becoming apparent that the Japanese, German and Italian peoples have deliberately or helplessly surrendered to dictatorships or govern- *‘l which have in t.hmmu-l. cepted war as the basis of national policy. Even now, however, these several phenomena—Japanese Im- perialism, Italian Fascism and Ger- man National Socialism—are seen in this country in the light of pre-war conceptions and immediate post-war Judgments. The material necessities which underlie the political policies of these nations and explain them are not yet grasped and until they are clearly per- ceived there can be no adequate ap- preciation of the problems which to- day confront the world and must have an immediate importance for American statesmanship. In England and America there still endures & pro- found unwillingness to believe that any people can accept War as a na- tional necessity and the effort to ex- plain the contemporary phenomenon in terms of the ambitions of dictators, the machinations of munitions mak- ers, the conspiracies of the interna- tional bankers still visibly persists. What the Ethiopian affair and the Geneva spectacle which resulted from |t should make plain to the American | people, however, is the truth that war remains possible in the contemporary world because of the economic in- equalities existing between peoples and the impossibility of remdving the intolerable consequences of these in=- equalities by any peaceful means. All the secret of the present policies of Japan, Germany and Italy is dis- coverable in the examination of the statistics which disclose the conges- tion of populations, the exiguity of raw materials and the absence of ac- | cumulated capital in these countries. Revolution Menaces. Under these circumstances, whereas the alternative for the American and British people—and for the French as well—is peace or war, the choice for these others is between foreign war and domestic revolution. To grasp |this fact is to see at once why neither Mussolini nor Hitler has eny real opportunity to escape conflict. | No government, no system of govern- |ment can survive the effects of a |steadily declining standard of life (and an ever rising strain of popula- |don pressure. And under existing circumstances that is the future which i confronts the rulers and people of Japan, Germany and Italy. It is possible to believe that, in the end, the Manchurian gamble will | prove the ruin of Japan and that after the Ethiopian adventure Italian circumstances will be more desperate than before. What is inconceivable |is that a government, whether demo- cratic or dictatorial, will sit down pas- sively and await the moment when | Popular unrest produced by the misery of the masses must overwhelm it. { Manifestly, too, this economic pres- |sure driving nations to war is some- thing wholly different from the forces 3whlch> brought about the World War. {And it is this fact which explains { the breakdown of the post-war peace | machinery, for that was designed to protect the world from the old dangers and had no relevance to current con- ditions. Japan has made war, Italy will make war, Germany is Ppreparing to make war—these are three facts which disengage themselves starkly from all the fog and confusion of the present hour. Not less patent is the fact that the economic circumstances of all three of these countries are similar. These circumstances, moreover, bar the way permanently to any reason- able degree of national prosperity and any decent standard of individual life. And if war were to be perma- nently abolished, there would be no means by which such countries could escape from these conditions until a way were discovered to manufacture cotton and wool, coal and iron, cop- per and tin, rubber and oil out of thin air or dry sand_ Grim Reality Behind Moves. Cace you set aside all the sound and fury of Fascist eloquence, all the brutality and bestiality of National Socialist excesses, once you look be- neath the surface of the Japanese gospel of nationalism, you discover realities which are as intelligible as the phrases and gestures of the prophets of these several gospels of violence are meaningless to American and English audiences. Above all you discover why beneath the exaggeration :l‘o language there is a solid determina- n, Manchuria was the first step in the education of the American people to the knowledge that war was still to be reckoned with. Ethiopla is the second. Beyond the latter lies the certainty of a third, and this is bound to come not in distant Asia nor remote Africa but in the very heart of Europe. It is the misfortune of the Germans that they have no available field for expansion at their doors as did the Japanese, nor a foothold in Africa as do the Italians, which can be used as the jumping-off place for colonial conquest_ In whatever direction they turn they are bound to come up against the immediate resistance of an armed and determined people. But like Mussolini, Hitler must go forward. Daily his domestic economic problems become more pressing, hourly the danger of upheaval arising from the sufferings of the masses are in- creasing and must continue to increase. 'The explosions in Asia and Africa have taken place, that in Europe has be- come inevitable and cannot be post- poned indefinitely. That is what aflair of Ethiopia and the failure of problem of war and peace. (Copyright. 1935.) Electric Signs Flash Forecast of Weather ‘YOKOHAMA .—Electric signs flash- Meteorological Observatory here in- form the citizens as to the probable weather conditions the following day. The red beacon is for cloudy weather, the white is for clear and blue is for rain. The observatory uses fhe most modern clocks, seismometers, etc, (Copyrisht, 1835.) \ EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday Star WASHINGTON, D. C, Alaska Doilbts Uncle Sam SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 15, 1935. Rex Beach Thinks Government Experiment at Matanuska Unfortunate, but the Colonists i Themselves Need Have No Fears. Note: Few know Alaska as it is known to Rex Beach, the writer, a veteran of the pioneering days in that country. With ineradicable memories of the. rigors of those frontier experiences, Beach has gone back to Alaska to inquire into the condition and the prospects of the Government’s colonists in the Matanuska Valley, whose compara=- tive comjorts and small luzuries would have found the early pio- neers incredible. Famous among Beach’s novels of adventure and life in the wilds are “The Spoilers,” “The Barrier,” “Zhe Silver Horde” and “The Ne'er-Do-Well.” Beach’s intimate kwnoledge of Alaska, and his own experiences there, give this article especial authority, BY REX BEACH. ALMER, Alaska.—The Mata- nuska farm colony is Uncle Sam’s boldest experiment in rural rehabilitation. Out of the original 200 familes taken to Alaska, about 40 have returned home. Seven hundred men, mostly relief workers, have been busy for four months building cabins, making roads, etc., and by the time snow flies the colony will be housed. That will end the first chapter in the experiment. But only the first. The eventual outcome 15 no more certain now than it was last Spring, and most well-in- formed Alaskans predict that it will end in failure. “Some of those ‘hand-picked’ col- onists were never on & farm, and the rest don’t realize whet they’re up against,” 8 man in Juneau asserted. “Many of them don’t know which end of a horse to put the collar on or the part of a cow that gives milk, and by another year two-thirds of them will have quit. The thing is being man- aged to death. Why, with 160 fam- ilies left, there are 17 department heads. That's better than one to every 10 settlers. “Where's the Market?” “The valley is rich; it’s about the best farming place in Alaska. It will grow fine vegetables and berries, and some grains will mature. But where's the market? This is an enormous country and it is sparsely settled.” 1 learned that the idea as first con- ceived was practical and modest in scope. - It recommended importing not more than 50 families of experienced Northern farmers, provided a year was taken to prepare for their coming. Local inhabitants believed the Mat- anuska Valley could support about that many and it was suggested that 2 few small units be spotted near mar- kets like Juneau, Fairbanks or other towns. The Territorial Legislature even went so far as to warn Wash- ington against proceeding with undue haste. Instead of taking a year to prepare for 50 families of the right sort, 200 families were sent and the first group arrived just one day after the first gang of contingent workers, who had been imported to build houses for them and to clear their land. Al came to the same place and some had been badly selected. thing blows up, the fault will bl chargeable to Alaska or to Alaskans. - Hardships Avoidable. Such bad mansgement at the start resulted in confusion, chaos; the colo- abler hands finally took hold in time to avert a tragedy. PFairbanks, Northern terminus of the rail belt which the colony is expected to serve, is as pessimistic about -the project as is Juneau. It has an ex- perimental farm operated in connec- tion with the University of Alaska and they can't do that, on account of the railroad haul and the freight rates.” “Where,” I asked, “will they dis- pose of their crops?” “That’s something we'd like to know. Anchorage is a growing town and there are a few consumers scat- tered up and down the railroad.” Residents Grow Their Own. However, when I arrived in Anchor- age I discovered that here, too, the residents grow most of their own vegetables, berries and milk. Every second town lot is a garden and there are truck farms on the outskirts. “Mighty little chance for those Matanuska fellows to sell any green stuff here,” a leading citizen told me. “I have a truck garden in which stuff is going to waste. I can't give it away.” Anchorage is next door to the colony and has watched the experiment with interest. It is the general belief that the Government has put its cart ahead “TAINT FAIR NOTHER!” of the mule. see the country grow, but they ex- plain that farmers never blaze a trail, | they follow the wagon ruts. Without | a market they can't exist. “We're not fools,” I was told. “If there was money in farming here, we'd be doing it ourselves. We've tried and the Matanuska Valley is full of clearings abandoned by fellows who,| couldn’t make #igo of agriculture.” A Living—Perhaps. “Perhaps there-is at least a living {in it,” I ventured. “Perhaps. But you can't make & contented farmer without the pros- pect of profit. There are 117 families of old-timers in the valley now— | almost as many of them as there are colonists. All haye been trying for years to make a’living without any conspicuous success. “What gets our goat is the waste, the extravagance, that'’s going on up | there, The Government has these CONSTITUTION DAY The Day and the Signing. BY FRANK W. HUTCHINS, E OBSERVE this week the \/ v signing of the Constitu- tion of the United States. glasses and try to vision the scene of that September 17, 1787, in the street, in little Philadelphia. That was the bullding, you remember, in laration had been signed, and it was already coming to be called Independ- Now, on that hot September day the eyes of a troubled young Nation there. And reason enough. By this time our fathers had learned that it of a foreign government, quite an- other to establish a government of Congress was & failure, the bonds holding the newly formed States to- crisis had come. < To meet that crisis there was now most remarkable body of men our country has ever seen. Thomas Jef- Quiet Rules Scene. Through scorchingly hot weeks desperately seeking to devise a system of government by which the new, served and the tottering Union placed upon an enduring foundation. . Be- tinels, this Federal convention sat, each man solemnly pledged to secrecy. quiet reigned, loose earth lay scat- tered over the cobblestone pavement stilled. Now, what was taking place within Monday, September 17, some century and a half ago? That signing day, Ignoring bolts, bars, and sentinels, we step inside. We soon find our- the same in which the Declaration of Independence was signed. It is its walls finished with artistic panels and pilasters. Before us appears an members—more here today than usual. A most aristocratic appearing body, heads and rich velvets and silk stockings and gleaming shoebuckles. At the far end of the room, upon & dais and in a lordly Chippendale 148th anniversary of the Put on your great-great grandfather’s old State House downs on Chestnut which a few years earlier the Dec- ence Hall. were anxiously, feverishly focused was one thing to throw off the yoke their own. The feebie Continental gether were snapping, and—well, the gathered in Independence Hall the ferson lauded them as “demi-gods,” those men sat there, patiently, often dearly bought liberties might be pre- hind closed doors, guarded by sen- About the historic building uneasy in front, the sound of passing traffic those guarded walls on that historic that last day of the convention. selves in a large, impressive chamber, lighted by deep, casemented windows, imposing assemblage of perhaps 50 with much showing of powdered ‘Washington Presides. chair, sits the president of the con- neur Morris, and that other little man, so delicate looking, so pale-faced, so plainly dressed, James Madison, prob- ably the best equipped member of the assembly, and to be often called the “Father of the Constitution.” On the table lies the completed work of the convention—the en- grossed proposed Constitution of the United States. All is ready for sign- ing. But something seems wrong. ‘There is an anxious uncertainty in the air. Fact is that even now suffi- cient and satisfactory signing is far from assured. There on the table lies a document born out of as diverse and conflicting interests as were ever sought to be reconciled. It is the fruit of months of contention and compromise. Time after time, in the long, trying ses- sions compromise has gone dead, and contention run riot. Time after time, only the commanding determination of George Washington has held the convention together and brought the spirit of compromise again alive. At last, success almost unbelievable—the completed document on the table. And now—quills and ink waiting— this hesitation, these doubts and ex- cuses. Paper Read for Franklin. Franklin has foreseen this and has & little speech prepared to meet it. But the old man is too weak to speak, and the paper is read for him. He says that in the course of a long life he has often been forced to change opinions he has once thought right. Now, in old age, he has learned to doubt his own judgment and to pay more respect to the judments of others. He hopes that each member who still has objections will do like- wise—doubt a little his own infalli- bility, and sign the document. Ham- {lton, who probably has yielded more to compromise than any other mem- ber, declares that he will sign, and urges every member to give his sig- nature. It is now toward evening. The pre-~ siding officer steps from his chair, and soon the document on the table bears the bold, handsome signature, “Geo. Washington.” The members follow in the order of their States. Most of those who do not intend to sign leave the room. As the last sig- natures are being affixed, and it is evident the proposed Constitution will carry the authority of two-thirds of the convention, Franklin stirs to speak. The white-haired octogena- rian is gazing toward the great chair occupled by Washington. On its back is emblazoned a half-sun with bril- liant, gilded rays. “How often and often,” comes the faint voice, “in the past weeks of hopes and fears, have I looked at yonder sun, wondering in- deed whether it was rising or setting. But now I know—it is a rising sun!” Something that Washington' now says we do not quite catch clearly. Tradition has his words, “Should the ; | States reject this excellent Conslitu- tion, they will probably never have Everybody is eager to) settlers on its hip and theyll stay there until they are ready to get off. It will have to spend four times what it expected to spend. It's got a bear by the tail and it can’t let go. Of course, we don’t mind, for it isn't our money, and that shows the complete change of mental attitude that takes place when charity ceases to be a pri- vate or local concern and becomes a public enterprise. ““We had an unemployment problem here in this town and we met it. In- asmuch as we were spending our own money, we made sure that it went as far as possible and we got by for about $900 a month. Then came word that relief would be administered out of public funds, and by official agencies. Immediately we all became interested in seeing, not how little, but how much it could be made to cost. One business man told me the | other day that be is now meking a profit out of it of $900 a month. “That’s precisely the way your Matanuska projects function.” “Good lord! Is there more than one?” “On the Government list it is desig- nated as ‘project No. 32 There are some 40-odd similar homestead sub- sistence undertakings elsewhere. Fig- ure out the total cost and see where it's leading.” > 120 Square Mile Area. Seen from thé air, the Matanuska Valley is a timbered wilderness, broken by occasional clearings and lakes. Through the birch and spruce forests wind & few roads laid down for the old-timers and a geometric pattern of new roads being cut for the tenderfeet. The colonization area embraces about 120 square miles, throughout which the settlers have been spotted. It will take about 120 miles of graveled high- ways to serve them. At Palmer has been started a com- munity center’ comprising a trading post with store, radio and post office, a general warehouse, canning plant, creamery, school, hospital, central heating and lighting plant, and pre- sumably some recreational facilities. The project as originally contem- plated involved a capital expendi- ture of about $1,250,000, which was | expected to cover everything; but this community center alone will cost nearly that much and the total ex- pense of building houses, digging wells, clearing land, supplying equipment and carrying the pioneers until. they are self-supporting will undoubtedly greatly exceed the original allotment. $5,000,000 Cost Seen. Estimates of the total ultimate cost run ‘as high as $5000,000, and the most optimistic forecast I have heard is that 50 families will stick and dig their toes in. In that event, those hardy frontier families will have cost us taxpayers $100,000 apiece. That is paying pretty high for pioneers. No wonder Alas- kans speak with contempt about these (Continued o Third Page.) pear loath to go. - Washington sits very still with head bowed. A strange solemnity seems in the air. Members “are later to speak of this. But, all is over, the great work com- pleted, and so at length the Federal Convention of 1787 adjourns. And so do we, its unseen observers. True to the manner of the times, the members immediately gravitated to a tavern, the City Hotel, had dinner together, and “took cordial leave of one another.” And they went, still troubled, not knowing the marvel they had wrought—that it was the greatest piece of constructive statesmanship ever known; that it should creatt and perpetuate a mighty republic to be- ecome the model for all others; that the’ world’s profoundest statesmen should unite in its praise—Gladstone declaring, “The American Constitu- tion is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” After that parting at the Hotel, was George Wi under the influence of that solemn moment of the convention? He tells us he returned to his lodg- ings, “and retired to meditate ou the momentous work which had been And now, perhaps no better ending tp the story of that historic day than just the picture of that big, lone figure sitting there in meditation. A City sull last Travel — Resorts Civic Activities “| [EXPORT BOUNTY FAVORED BY KNOX AGAINST A. A. A. Chicagoan Wants to Help Agriculture, but Also Aid Consumer by Ending “Food Tax.” © BY MARK SULLIVAN. HE strikingly early start of next T year's presidential campaign has brought a development which bears strongly on next year’s Republican platform, and may turn out to be a milestone, of one kind or another, for one of the aspir- ants for the Republican presidential nomination. On Labor day, Col. Frank Knox, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, and decidedly a leader among possi- bilities for the Republican presidential nomination, made a speech. In news- paper reports he was quoted as saying “it costs $1.80 today to buy the same necessities a dollar would have pur- chased three years ago at the corner grocery.” This was getting close to one of the issues of next year'’s campaign, an issue which on one side, the con- sumer side, is the high cost of living, and on the other side is the matter of prices for farm crops. Reed Challenges Knox. At once, a Midwest Republican leader, Clyde M. Reed, former Gov- ernor of Kansas, picked Col. Knox up. He sent Col. Knox a telegram quoting what the colonel had said, and added: “The inference is that farm prices should be returned to the 1932 relative basis.”” “Is it your position,” former Gov. Reed asked Col. Knox, “that the Republican platform of 1936 should predicate a campaign on that basis?” And former Gov. Reed added that if this is the case, the Republican party “may as well surrender the farm States before the campaign opens.’ At once Col. Knox replied. Pla- catingly he said it was an “imperative necessity” that farm purchasing power be restored to parity with other prices. He added that he is opposed to A. A. A. because it is & “policy of scarcity,” and because the processing tax “is a direct sales tax on food.” He mentioned, as a lohg-range remedy for the hrmer“‘ “a determined effort to expand world | trade.” Then he stated his immediate | position: “In the meantime, as a temporary measure, we must take whatever steps are necessary to insure to the farmer the full enjoyment of his domestic market on terms entirely equal to those enjoyed by tariff-protected industries. This means, of course, some form of expert bounty which will assure to each farmer, no matter whether his prod- ucts go into the domestic market or are shipped abroad, the enjoyment of the domestic prices for the commod- ties he raises. No one can agree more theroughly than I do that the Repub- lican party must have the support of the Middle Western farm States in the campaign of 1936.” Favors Export Bounty. ‘That is an important utterance. It means that Col. Knox favors, as an immediate substitute for A. A. A., an “export bounty” on that part of the American farmers’ crops that is sold abroad. The importance of this statement to Col. Knox himself lies in the fact that he has taken a concrete, definite- 1y decalred position on the farm prob- lem. The present question, politically vital to Col. Knox, is will the Repub- lican party platform take just that position? Unless the party does, it would seem that Col. Knox will be seriously handicapped as & possibility for the party's presidential nomina- tion. Col. Knox's candor is creditable to him and wholesome for the coun- try. But the position in which he now finds himself illustrates the po- litical adage that it is dangerous for s candidate for a presidential nomi- nation to get “to far out in front” at too early a stage. Let us see what effect Col. Knox's action has on him in respect to the Republican presidential nomination. Presumably he has removed a handi- cap to him as respects delegates from the Midwest. But decidedly he has not made it certain he will have those delegates. There are other Republic- an presidential possibilities in the Midwest—Gov. Alfred M. Landon of Kansas, Senator Arthur H. Vanden- berg of Michigan, Senator Lester J. Dickinson of Iowa. It seems fairly certain that each of these three will have the delegates from their respec- tive States and other delegates from the Midwest besides. And it may be that Col. Knox, by his emphasis on one among several questions, may have alienated from him the delegates from Eastern States which consume food and are increasingly irritated by the high cost of living. Artificial Price Demanded. Many Midwest Republican leaders and newspapers say two things: Pirst, that that territory will support no candidate for the Republican presi- dential nomination who does not fa- vor an artificial price for farm crops; second, that the Midwest will not vote the Republican ticket unless the Republican platform declares clearly and firmly for a program assuring an artificial price for- farm crops. (if Midwest readers or others object to the phrase “artificial price,” my reply and apology is that I use the phrase as a general term designed to apply to any and sll of the proposals brought forward to give the farmer what is called a “parity” price, or any price other than that which is determined by the full operation of supply and demand and other natural economic forees.) . 5 The fundamental defect in this Midwest attitude, and in Col. Knox's action in indorsing it, is that they commit themselves to one detail of a campaign issue long before that issue as a whole can be known. The issue, in the broadest sense, is likely to be the preservation of the American form of society and government, in- cluding, of course, preservation of the independence and the powers of the Supreme Court. Relative to that broad issue anything else is a detail. In the face of that issue, as it will appear next year, I doubt whether the Midwest, as a whole, is going to say that that whole enlightened territory is interested solely in-some. one nar- rowly defined way of geiting an arti- ficlal price for farm crops and will shut its eyes to everything else. I can outline what next year’s cam- paign issue will be by beginning with “Potato Control.” 3 There will take effect December 1 next a law under which the following conditions will exist: No farmer can raise and sell more. than five bushels of potatoes without getting a permit from the Federal Government. The Federal Government, through A. A. A, will dictate, for each farm, how many potatoes may be raised. Any farmer raising and selling more | than the quota A. A. A. has imposed on hime and any farmer who has not | received a Government permit, will be penalized by a prohibitive tax of 45 cents a bushel on any potatoes he sells. ! All potatoes sold by any farmer must ! be in closed containers prescribed by A. A.A. Each container must contain , a Government stamp. F | If any farmer sells potatoes not | packaged as the Government requires, * | or not bearing a Government stamp, | he is subject to $1,000 fine for the | first offense and a year's imprison- ment for the second offense. Any buyer of potatoes not packaged { as the Government requires, and not bearing a Government stamp, is sube | ject to the same penalties as the seller. | Every farmer raising more than | five bushels of potatoes must keep | such records as the Government re- | quires. And every person having any | information about the production and | sale of potatoes must give such ine { formation to the Government on de- | mand. The penalty for failure is a fine up to $1,000 and imprisonment up to one year, or both. Geared Into Entire New Deal. Now let no one suppose that “potato control” is merely one law standing by itself. Let no one suppose that law can be repealed and that there- after everything will be as before. Po- tato control is inseparably geared into the whole New Deal theory of gov- | ernment. Potato control is cne step in a series. Potato control was made necessary by the preceding steps. In turn, potato control, in connection with the preceding steps, will make further steps inevitable. No one dreamed two years ago, when cotton | control was adopted, that cotton con- | trol would necessarily lead to potato | control—at least no one dreamed it | except the inner circle of the New Dealers, who knew that once they got the first step the succeeding steps must follow. How potato control came about, how it was forced by the preceding steps, is explained by Senator Josiah W. Bailey of North Carolina, who in- trodueed the bill: “Under the operation of the crop control act, farmers have been driven |from cotton, tobacco and peanuts as well as other crops, and have gone into the production of potatoes.” Hence a glut of potatoes, hence low | prices for potatoes, hence another | step in the series, potato control, fol- lowing upon, and forced by, cotton, tobacco and peanut control. As to what will follow potato con- trol (unless the whole process is ar- rested and the preceding steps re- traced) read Senator King of Utah: “We may expect at the next session to find measures bringing other com- modities under control, perhaps car- rots and cabbages and lettuce and tomatoes, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables.” If the reader thinks that fantastic, so would he have thought two years ago that the idea of potato control was fantastic. Other Products Due for Control. ‘The process does not stop with farm crops. Not by any means. Once a farm crop is restricted, commodities competing with it must be restricted. Already, to make cotton control “stick,” certain products made of pa- per and jute are under control and effort is under way to put silk and rayon under control. And that is not the full length the process will go, unless it is arrested. In the final phase it will be necessary to fix prices for every commodity at every stage, and to fix wages in every ine dustry. To make clear this essential quality of the New Deal is difficult. Faced by that difficulty I have occasionally had recourse to quoting the especially well phrased explanations of an economist, Dr. Virgil Jordan, head of the Nation- al Industrial Conference Board: “It is an unconscious, sutomatic, irreversible process that has been set in motion and is moving forward steadily. What is happening is not a question of any particular individual intention, but the logical consequence, or inevitable effect, of a series of meas- ures or steps that may or may not be part of a conscious or consistent proe gram somewhere in the administra« tion. The important thing is that these measures have an inevitable se« quence one to another. The underly« ing ideas that are involved in them grow one out of the other, and in such & process, once set in motion, one thing leads inevitably to aonther and each step compels a successive step which carries us farther, unconsciously lng perhaps unwillingly, toward the end.” The issue in the election next year is whether we shall go on with this process to the end, which as Prof. Lionel Robbins says, is “complete Soe clalism.” Or whether we shall turn back. (Copyright. 1035.) Tokio’s New Subway Thoroughly Modern TOKIO.—Asia’s first subway system, opened to the public some time ago, has been so successful that it will probably be followed by many more, and the Orient’s teeming millions, where they are most congested, will be able to escape the “madding crowd” by transportation factlities laid under the ground. Tokio’s subway combines the best features of the New York subway, the Paris metro and the London - tube. Coins in the slot machines are mag- nified, so that guards may detect spurious money. White enamel straps snap back into place when not in use. Automatic doors have soft edges, which may bump but not scar the slightly tardy passenger. Oars carrying 200 passengers leave a station every three minutes. (Copyright, 1935.) 4